Abstract available in the Annual Coaches and Sport Science College.

Abstract available in the Medicine and Sciences in Sports and Exercise.

This study examined the validity of various scaling methods, isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) peak force using various scaling methods, and the relationships between IMTP peak force and countermovement jump height. Fifty-one collegiate baseball and soccer athletes performed two maximal IMTPs. Absolute peak force was compared between teams and when data were scaled using ratio (RS), traditional allometric (ALLOTrad), and fitted allometric (ALLOFit) scaling. ALLOTrad and ALLOFit validity was violated because different derived exponents existed for baseball (b = 0.20) and soccer (b = 1.20). Soccer athletes produced greater RS peak force compared to baseball (p = 0.012), while no difference existed with absolute, ALLOTrad or ALLOFit (all p > 0.05) peak force. Moderate relationships existed between body mass and absolute (r = 0.402, p = 0.003) and RS (r = -0.328, p = 0.019) peak force, while trivial relationships existed with ALLOTrad and ALLOFit (both r < -0.10, p > 0.05). Trivial relationships existed between countermovement jump height and absolute, RS, ALLOTrad, and ALLOFit (all r < 0.20, p > 0.05) peak force. The current dataset violated allometric scaling assumptions, making it inappropriate to use ALLOTrad and ALLOFit scaling. Practitioners must understand the assumptions, limitations, and purpose of scaling methods.

The purpose of this study was to compare the phase characteristics of the countermovement jump (CMJ) force-time (F-t) curve between athletes based on jumping ability. An initial sample of one-hundred fifty Division-I collegiate athletes were ranked based on CMJ height. Three performance groups were then formed by taking the top, middle, and lower 30 athletes (15 men and 15 women) from the sample. Phases of the CMJ F-t curve were determined and then characterized by their duration, magnitude, area (impulse), and shape (shape factor). A series of 3-way mixed analysis of variance were used to determine statistical differences in phase characteristics between performance groups as well as between male and female athletes. Statistically significant phase-by-performance group interactions were observed for relative phase magnitude (p < 0.001), relative phase impulse (p < 0.001), and shape factor (p = 0.002). Phase-by-sex interactions were statistically significant for both relative phase magnitude (p < 0.001) and relative phase impulse (p < 0.001). Post hoc comparisons indicated that higher jumpers exhibited larger relative magnitude and impulse in the phases contained within the positive area of the F-t curve. Similarly, relative phase magnitude and impulse were the only phase characteristics to be statically different between men and women. Finally, the relative shape of the phase representing the initial rise in force was found to relate to jump height. These results provide some information regarding the diagnostic value of qualitative analysis of the CMJ F-t curve.

Barrier options have become increasingly popular financial instruments due to the lower costs and the ability to more closely match speculating or hedging needs. In addition, barrier options play a significant role in modeling and managing risks in insurance and finance as well as in refining insurance products such as variable annuities and equity-indexed annuities. Motivated by these immediate applications arising from actuarial and financial contexts, the thesis studies the pricing of barrier options and some exotic variations, assuming that the underlying asset price follows the Black-Scholes model or jump-diffusion processes. Barrier options have already been well treated in the classical Black-Scholes framework. The first part of the thesis aims to develop a new valuation approach based on the technique of exponential stopping and/or path counting of Brownian motions. We allow the option's boundaries to vary exponentially in time with different rates, and manage to express our pricing formulas properly as combinations of the prices of certain binary options. These expressions are shown to be extremely convenient in further pricing some exotic variations including sequential barrier options, immediate rebate options, multi-asset barrier options and window barrier options. Many known results will be reproduced and new explicit formulas will also be derived, from which we can better understand the impact on option values of various sophisticated barrier structures. We also consider jump-diffusion models, where it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to obtain the barrier option value in analytical form for exponentially curved boundaries. Our model assumes that the logarithm of the underlying asset price is a Brownian motion plus an independent compound Poisson process. It is quite common to assign a particular distribution (such as normal or double exponential distribution) for the jump size if one wants to pursue closed-form solutions, whereas our method permits any distributions for the jump size as long as they belong to the exponential family. The formulas derived in the thesis are explicit in the sense that they can be efficiently implemented through Monte Carlo simulations, from which we achieve a good balance between solution tractability and model complexity.

The majority of dams contain low-level outlet works, which typically consist of closed conduits that run through the dam, and are used to release water from the reservoir when the water level is below the level of the surface spillways. It is also used to flush the reservoir of sediments and to control the elevation of the reservoir. Low-level outlet works typically consist of a gate that controls the flow within a closed conduit that runs through the dam and an air vent that supplies air behind the gate. In the absence of properly designed air vents, negative pressures may develop downstream of the gate. These negative pressures could potentially lead to cavitation and vibration damage. Properly sized air vents help maintain the downstream air pressure at or near atmospheric pressure and/or provide air to absorb the energy generated by cavitation, reducing the potential for damage. The majority of research done on air vent sizing is for dams having large dam geometry, which consist of a pressurized conduit leading to a vertical slide gate that is followed by a discharge tunnel. The typical air vent design for these large dams uses the water flow rate and the Froude number measured at the vena contracta downstream of the gate. The low-level outlet works for small-to-medium-sized embankment dam geometries typically have an inclined slide gate, installed at the inlet on the upstream face of the dam slope, followed by an elbow that connects to a conduit that passes through the dam and discharges downstream. This type of outlet geometry does not produce the typical vena contracta. Consequently, the use of the Froude number, at the vena contracta , as a characteristic parameter for characterizing airflow demand is not practical. Recently a laboratory study was performed calculating the head-discharge characteristics of low-level outlets for small-to-medium sized dam geometries. In addition to validating some of the previous laboratory-scale air venting research, the objective of this study was field verification of air-demand/air vent sizing predicted by the laboratory-based method. The influence of conduit slope, air port location, and hydraulic jumps on air demand was also evaluated in the laboratory. The findings of this study can be found within this thesis.

Introduktion: Den vertikala hoppförmågan är viktigt för prestationen inom många idrotter. Att använda sig utav komplexträning som benböj och vertikala upphopp har i tidigare forskning visats ge signifikant förbättrad kraftutveckling. Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) är ett fysiologiskt fenomen som ökar muskelspänningen och kraftutvecklingen i de arbetande musklerna, vilket kan implementeras under komplexträning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om idrottare inom basket, fotboll, handboll och volleyboll får en gynnsam ökning på Countermovement jump with arm swing (CMJa) om de genomför benböj med en belastning på 50% och 80% av deras estimerade eller faktiskt uppmätta 1 repetition maximum (RM) innan test av CMJa. Metod: 9 män och 2 kvinnor, ålder 20.6±3.3, 181.4±7.4 cm, vikt, 76.9±12.6 kg, deltog där samtliga deltagare var aktiva inom någon av idrotterna basket, fotboll och handboll. Testdeltagarna utförde två set tunga benböj följt av fem set CMJa på en infraröd sensor. Resultat: Resultatet visade ingen signifikant förbättring över tid i hopphöjd hos aktiva bollidrottare (p=0.98). Slutsats: Resultatet tyder på att användandet av PAP med tunga benböj inte leda till förbättrad prestation på hopphöjden vid genomförande av CMJa hos bollidrottare. Resultatet i den här studien stödjer inte tidigare forskningsresultat om att det finns en positiv skillnad på hopphöjd efter tunga benböj över tid. / Introduction: The vertical jump ability is essential for performance in many sports. The use of complex training has in previous research been shown to provide significantly improved power development. Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) is a physical phenomenon that increases muscle tension and the force development of the working muscles which can be implemented in complex training. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether athletes in basketball, football, handball and volleyball will have a favorable increase in Countermovement jump with arm swing (CMJa) if they perform heavier squats with a load of 50% and 80% of their estimated or measured 1 repeat maximum (RM) before CMJa. Method: 9 men and 2 women, age 20.6±3.3 years, height 181.4±7.4 cm, 76.9±12.6 kg body mass participated in the study. All participants were active in one of the sports basket, football, handball or volleyball. The participants performed two set of squats followed by five set of two repetition CMJas with a five minutes rest in between. An infrared sensor MuscleLab was used to analyze the jump height. Results: The result showed no significant difference between heavy squats and jump height in CMJa over time (p=0.98). Conclusion: Squats with 50% and 80% of 1RM do not seem to improve jump height performance in CMJ on team sports players. The result in this study does not support the results in previous studies showing a positive effect of heavy squats on maximal jump height.

We utilise several asset pricing models that allow for discontinuities in the returns and volatility time series in order to obtain estimates of Value-at-Risk (VaR). The first class of model that we use mixes a continuous diffusion process with discrete jumps at random points in time (Poisson Jump Diffusion Model). We also apply a purely discontinuous model that does not contain any continuous component at all in the underlying distribution (Variance Gamma Model). These models have been shown to have some success in capturing certain characteristics of return distributions, a few being leptokurtosis and skewness. Calibrating these models onto the returns of an index of Australian stocks (All Ordinaries Index), we then use the resulting parameters to obtain daily estimates of VaR. In order to obtain the VaR estimates for the Poisson Jump Diffusion Model and the Variance Gamma Model, we introduce the use of an innovation from option pricing techniques, which concentrates on the more tractable characteristic functions of the models. Having then obtained a series of VaR estimates, we then apply a variety of criteria to assess how each model performs and also evaluate these models against the traditional approaches to calculating VaR, such as that suggested by J.P. Morgan???s RiskMetrics. Our results show that whilst the Poisson Jump Diffusion model proved the most accurate at the 95% VaR level, neither the Poisson Jump Diffusion or Variance Gamma models were dominant in the other performance criteria examined. Overall, no model was clearly superior according to all the performance criteria analysed, and it seems that the extra computational time required to calibrate the Poisson Jump Diffusion and Variance Gamma models for the purposes of VaR estimation do not provide sufficient reward for the additional effort than that currently employed by Riskmetrics.

La question de savoir comment les protéines se replient dans leur propre structure tridimentionnelle offre un défi passionnant pour les biophysiciens de nos jours. L'utilisation d'un saut de température rapide est une technique très puissante pour l'étude du processus de dénaturation des protéines. Toutefois, sonder la structure secondaire est un défi difficile et on obtient rarement des valeurs quantitatives. Le but principal de ce projet de thèse est de développer une mise en œuvre technique de dichroïsme circulaire dans l'UV extrême dans une expérience de saut de température nanoseconde. Notre expérience permet de suivre quantitativement l'évolution de la fraction hélicoïdale d'un peptide poly(acide glutamique) au cours de sa dénaturation thermique avec une résolution de 12 ns de temps.

<p>During the last years a great effort has taken place to create a common IT-strategy within the Swedish national police board. This to establish a foundation for decision making concerning strategy principles was formed on the activity. The principles describes how the technical architecture is going to be developed and shapes the major rule and direction that’s makes the decision possible. To investigate and use products that is used already within the organisation shall primary take in consideration. Also is the usage of established industrial standards important to create cooperation and exchange between application and platforms. The choose of programming language Java and the service oriented architecture is a direct cause of the IT-strategy and was adopted to make the organisation to be platforms independent</p><p>The purpose with this master thesis has been to draw up specifications of the demands for a developing tool for geographic information system (GIS) that are in line with the IT-strategy and in collaboration with affected personal on the Swedish national police board. A comparison study has been the procedure to examine the choice of GIS solution for similar organisations and it has been guiding in the work with specification of demands. In the first phase only the demands on Java have been significant on closed and open source software that has been investigated. Next the chosen developing tools has been verified against the specification of demands and resulted in a recommendation. Although the Swedish national police board doesn’t have an official policy for open source products the proposal of the software GeoTools is going to be feasible after up coming investigation about open source software is finished. Concerning the proposal for closed software has ended up in alternative solutions depending on short or long term solutions. MapXtreme Java and Oracle Spatial consider being equivalent alternitivs for a long term solution while MapObjects Java considers being appropriate choice for a short term solution.</p> / <p>De senaste åren har ett omfattande arbete lagts ner på att skapa en gemensam IT-strategi inom Rikspolisstyrelsen (RPS). För att få en stabil grund för att fatta beslut kring denna strategi har principer som grundas på verksamheten tagits fram. Dessa beskriver hur den tekniska arkitekturen ska byggas och formar de styrande regler och riktlinjer som möjliggör besluten. Att undersöka och använda produkter som redan finns inom organisationen ska komma i första hand. Likaså är användandet av etablerade industristandarder viktiga då de medför samverkan och utbyte av data mellan applikationer och plattformar. Valet av programspråket Java och en serviceorienterad arkitektur är en direkt följd av IT-strategin och gjordes för att organisationen ska vara plattformsoberoende.</p><p>Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att utarbeta en kravspecifikation för ett utvecklingsverktyg inom geografiska informationssystem (GIS) som överensstämmer med IT-strategin och i samråd med berörd personal på RPS. En studie av tillvägagångssätt vid val av GIS-lösning för liknande organisationer har gett värdefull vägledning i arbetet med kravspecifikationen. I ett första skede har endast kravet på Java haft betydelse då både proprietära och öppna programvaror har studerats och jämförts. Därefter har utvalda utvecklingsverktyg ställts mot kravspecifikationen för att resultera i en rekommendation. Då RPS inte har någon uttalad policy för öppen programvara blir bedömningen av GeoTools som mest lämpade utvecklingsverktyg, aktuell först när kommande utredning om öppen programvara är avslutad. Angående bedömning av proprietär programvara har den lett till alternativa lösningar beroende på om inköpet av utvecklingsverktyg ska ha en kort- eller långvarig lösning. MapXtreme Java och Oracle Spatial bedöms vara likvärdiga alternativ för den långvariga lösningen medan MapObjects Java bedöms vara lämpligt val vid en kortvarig lösning.</p> / På grund av en olyckligt formulering har sista stycket på sidan 22 ändrats samt första stycket på sidan 23 tagits bort i den elektroniska versionen.